NEW DELHI: As repercussions of the Babri demolition continue to haunt the country , the Centre, which was blamed for not doing enough to handle the situation in December 1992, does not appear to be taking any chances this time. It had warned states about the seriousness of the matter and mobilized paramilitary forces well in advance as part of its fourpronged strategy to deal with the high court's verdict on the Ayodhya title suits.

The home ministry got the warning signal in early August when the Intelligence Bureau reported to it about activities of various religious groups — both Hindu and Muslim. The ministry quickly convened a meeting of top intelligence and security officials to devise a plan to face any threat of communal violence. This was followed by consultations with UP government about its preparations and expectations from the Centre.

The consultations resulted in devising the fourpronged strategy — deployment of adequate forces in all communally sensitive districts across the country, discussions with various religious groups and other stakeholders for maintaining calm, sensitization of media (specially TV news channels) and blocking any kind of communication (like bulk SMSes and MMSes) which may be used to foment communal tension.

The real action had begun on August 18 when Centre asked all states and UTs to give "top most priority" to maintaining law and order stating that the judgment had the potential to "evoke sharp reactions" . In its communication , the home ministry informed them about the activities of various religious groups, including VHP which had announced a countrywide mass mobilisation and awareness campaign called 'Hanumat Shakti Jagran Abhiyan' , in view of the forthcoming court verdict .

The ministry's missive also referred to comments made by some Muslim leaders , including Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, who strongly commented on the proposed VHP programme. It asked states and UTs to keep a close watch on activities of religious bodies of both the communities in the run-up to the judgment.